[s200n]

Hey Ladies and Gents,

So in 12 weeks I have lost 19.2lbs.. I have done this by eating 22 points a day on weight watchers.. I sometimes eat some of my flex points and if I earn activity points I never eat them.. During these 12 weeks I have tried to start exercising. This is what I have found.. Everytime I start exercising I either find myself at a standstill with the scale, or gain weight. I am at 146.8 pounds and I am 5'5". I know that yeah you gain muscle mass but I am trying to get that scale to read 130.. Also when I go to the gym I work hard.. I do 60 minutes on the treadmill, with a combination of walking on an incline, jogging and running,, I am usually a sweaty mess after that.. For all those people that are down to 135 to 120.. How did you get there?? Any tips or advise would be appreciated..

Thanks in advance!!!

Nicole

[tiffany0809]

I am also 5'5" and I was stuck around 135 forever. I started lifting weights and stayed strict with eating 1500 calories a day. I'm starting to increase it a little bit this week to start maintaining so I'm nervous I'll put the weight back on. But in the meantime I got down to 128.

[forestroad]

I do not find the muscle mass gain to be significant; it's more likely a result of water retention imo.

For instance, I have lost 30lbs since May. I do a lot of weight bearing activity like running and hiking, and in July I started strength training my upper body and core (I already have huge lower body mass--I can leg press 300lbs.) I started this journey with about 115lbs of lean body mass, and now I'm down to 105. Hopefully some of that is reduced water etc from my vascular system not having so much territory to cover, lol, but most of it is probably muscle. I've been trying my darndest not to lose muscle mass (10lbs of muscle is like a reduced daily burn capacity of 500 calories) but it just happens with weight loss and I think for women especially it's really hard to avoid.

Other people who have lost weight but tried to gain/maintain muscle with a workout regime--did it work, and if it did, what was your routine?

[Sheena41]

How long do you keep exercising after you gain or stall. If you keep execising and keep on plan you should start losing again.